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FROM AP: The IRS and its tea party tempest
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FROM AP: Quotations of the day
If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
In their embrace of absolute doctrine without regard to the facts on the ground, the anti-tax and pro-gun movements have contributed to the undermining of democratic society. Both stances refuse dialog and disdain compromise.
So today is judgment day, and the Speaker of the House probably wishes that the Mayans prognostications proved true, but we are still here and the real judgment day has come for Boehner and the Republican Party.
Just imagine, if Washington would just do nothing, all the years and years of wrangling over the long slide of our nation toward fiscal calamity would be over. Overnight, we would achieve a degree of fiscal balance that most Americans must have come to believe is not possible.
"D" is for dream -- the American Dream. Our country can no longer afford more of the same failed Republican economic policies that are pushing millions of American families over a human cliff, not a fiscal one.
The so-called fiscal cliff, a creation of Washington politicians, means that a tsunami of tax increases and spending cuts will batter the American economy, due to, among other things, the expiration of the Bush tax cuts.
The debate on taxes seemingly defies the logic of pluralist politics. Why? Because many of the Republican House members most vehemently opposed to hiking taxes on the rich hail from districts with virtually no rich people.
Today, I challenge our political leaders to read the Christmas story of God come to earth and born in a manger as a child of working-class parents, and then reexamine their own budget priorities.
In order to avoid a recession that would aggravate the country's unemployment problem and reignite concerns about housing and household finances, Democrats and Republicans need quickly to find a way to work together. While possible, it is hard to see how this happens endogenously.
Being reasonable does not mean hurting the vulnerable and the middle class a little bit less, "going more than halfway" to the people who want to devastate them. Being reasonable is seizing the political victory that has been handed to you, and coming home where you belong.
This has become a party of hypocrisy masquerading as principled ideology. The GOP talks endlessly about the importance of reducing the budget deficit. But it isn't even willing to raise revenues from the richest three-tenths of one percent of Americans to help with the task.
No, I am not suggesting that John Boehner and a group of Republicans switch parties, or even become Independents. That is not likely to happen. But, the collapse of "Plan B" provides an opportunity to make the House of Representatives functional again.
Shame on us for needing such tragedy to come to our senses, but seize the opportunity nevertheless.
Regarding the role of the National Rifle Association in a nation that has witnessed far too many killings of far too many innocents, in a nation with far too many of the kind of weapons that are best left to Navy SEALs killing enemy terrorists, I write today to reach out.
President Obama and Speaker Boehner are trying to reach a budget deal before Christmas and the fiscal cliff. Screw Christmas and the fiscal cliff. They better hurry up before the Earth explodes on Friday.
Speaker Boehner's "Plan B" deficit package vote is a political stunt designed to feign leadership instead of doing the hard work at the bargaining table with President Obama.
Republicans have shown time and again they don't play fair even when they lose popular vote elections and have much closer electoral accomplishments. With Obama's clear victory, he might well learn a lesson from them on how to govern.
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